Was Beyonce's Inauguration Day rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" almost too flawless to be live? On Tuesday Jan. 22 -- one day after the 31-year-old's stirring performance of the national anthem in front of a crowd of nearly 1 million -- a rep for the U.S. Marine Corp Band told multiple media outlets that the singer, 31, chose to lip-sync to a pre-recorded track of the song.

"All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don't know what the reason why," rep Kristen DuBois told the New York Post's Page Six. (DuBois gave similar accounts to TMZ and The Times of London.)

Indeed, band director Colonel Michael J. Colburn told Buzzfeed that Beyonce had little time to prep for the big moment. "We had Kelly [Clarkson] in over the weekend to rehearse and record. Beyonce, she's getting ready for the Super Bowl, so we didn't have a chance to do anything with her until last night," Colburn said Monday.